Supporting the use of user generated content in journalistic practice

TL;DR

This paper explores how journalists use social media and user-generated content, highlighting challenges in verifying information and proposing design considerations for verification tools based on ethnographic studies.

Contribution

It provides empirical insights into journalistic practices with UGC and informs the design of verification dashboards to improve news accuracy.

Findings

Journalists face verification challenges with social media content.

Ethnographic studies reveal practical needs for verification tools.

Design implications for social media verification dashboards.

Abstract

Social media and user-generated content (UGC) are increasingly important features of journalistic work in a number of different ways. However, their use presents major challenges, not least because information posted on social media is not always reliable and therefore its veracity needs to be checked before it can be considered as fit for use in the reporting of news. We report on the results of a series of in-depth ethnographic studies of journalist work practices undertaken as part of the requirements gathering for a prototype of a social media verification 'dashboard' and its subsequent evaluation. We conclude with some reflections upon the broader implications of our findings for the design of tools to support journalistic work.